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What you see online is often not anywhere near what you are going to get.

In fact, I have the perfect example of this right in my Natick neighborhood.

The light blue home around the corner from me at 17 Marion St., a ramshackle 1930s home of no particular style, was foreclosed on a couple years ago.

In fact, it enjoyed a pretty nice run during the bubble years, fetching $249,000 in 2002 and then getting flipped a couple years later for more than $284,000.

Then the economy came crashing down, with the home taken back by the bank for $175,000 in 2009.

After sitting empty but inconspicuous for a couple years, 17 Marion has morphed into the classic foreclosure special, with the recent addition of plywood over all the windows in advance of Irene the icing on the cake.

Now it's being marketed, intermittently, for the unbelievably low price of $205,000. (Yes, I am being sarcastic here.)

That's the reality - but you wouldn't have a clue just looking at the online listing for the home.